In brief: Sri Lanka axes free visas

Anger over plans to scrap free-on-arrival visas, plus new tourism tax in Rome and Antarctic cruise is scrapped

Discover secluded beaches in Sri Lanka where stilt fishermen cast in the surf (The Times)
Sri Lanka is to press ahead with plans to scrap its free visa-on-arrival
service, despite protests from the tourism sector that the new system,
involving a fee and an online application process, will deter visitors.

“One of the reasons we attract a large number of visitors to Sri Lanka is the
easy access to the country,” said Anura Lokuhetti of the Tourist Hotels
Association of Sri Lanka. Another top hotelier described the move as
“disastrous” for Sri Lanka’s tourist trade, which has recovered strongly
since the end of the civil war.

Under the new system, British tourists will apply and pay for their entry visa
in advance online. Details of the cost of the new application process, which
is expected to be in place by spring 2011, have yet to be released, but Sri
Lankan officials said that the visa-on-arrival service would remain
available for six months following the introduction